1 For the LORD {YHWH, Merciful Restorer} will show mercy to Jacob; He will choose Israel {Yisraʾēl: Persevering One} again and bring them back to their own land. The sojourner will attach himself to them, and they will be joined to the house of Jacob.
2 The peoples will pick them up and escort them to their place, and the house of Israel will take possession of them in the land of the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Promise Keeper} as servants and maidservants; and they will take captive those who once held them captive, and they will govern their oppressors {noges: labor overseers}.
3 And it will be in the day the LORD {YHWH, Rest-Bringing King} gives you rest from your pain {otsev: aching grief}, and from your agitation, and from the harsh labor that was imposed on you.
4 Then you will lift up this proverb {hamashal: satirical saying} against the king of Babylon and say, “See how the oppressor {nogesh: cruel taskmaster} has come to an end; the insolence has ceased!”
5 The LORD {YHWH, Righteous Judge} has shattered the staff of the wicked {resha‘im: morally culpable ones} and the scepter of rulers.
6 The one who struck peoples in wrath {evrah: intense anger} with unceasing blows, who ruled nations in anger, persecuting with no restraint {ḥāšāḵ: no restraint}.
7 The entire earth has entered rest {nachah: completed rest} and has become quiet; people burst forth with singing {rinnah: joyful shout}.
8 Even the cypress trees {beroshim: conifer wood} rejoice for you, and the cedars of Lebanon proclaim, “Since you have lain down, the cutter {hakoret: tree feller} has not risen against us.”
9 Sheol {she'ol: realm of the dead} beneath quivered on your account, to greet you at your arrival; it roused for you the departed spirits {refa'im: former rulers}, all the chiefs of the earth, and lifted from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
10 All of them will respond and say to you, “You also have been made feeble {chuleita: made feeble} like us; you have become similar {nimshalta: become similar in condition} to us.”
11 Your pride {geonekha: haughty splendor} is brought down to Sheol, together with the sound of your stringed instruments; a maggot {rimmah: festering larva} is spread beneath you, and worms are your covering.
12 How you have fallen from the heavens, O shining one {helel: bright star}, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the earth, you who laid low {cholesh: weakened} the nations.
13 But you said in your heart, “To the heavens I will ascend; above the stars of God {El: divine power} I will lift up my throne; I will sit on the mountain of assembly {mo’ed: appointed gathering}, in the far reaches of the north.”
14 I will ascend above the heights of the cloud {av: divine presence}; I will be like the Most High {Elyon, Supreme Exalted One}.
15 Nevertheless, you will be brought down to Sheol {sheol: realm of the dead}, to the farthest reaches {yarketei: uttermost depths} of the pit.
16 Those who see you will fix their gaze on you; they will study you, saying, “Is this the man {haish: now humbled} who made the earth tremble, who shook kingdoms {mamlakhot: royal realms}?”
17 He made the world a wilderness {midbar: barren waste} and destroyed its cities; he did not let his prisoners {asirav: chained captives} go home.
18 All the kings of the nations—every one of them—lie down in glory {bekavod: honored state}, each in his own house {beveito: personal dwelling}.
19 But you have been thrown away from your grave like a despised shoot {netser: lowly sprout}, clothed with the slain, pierced by the sword, descending to the stones of the pit—like a carcass trampled {muvas: utterly dishonored}.
20 You will not be joined with them in burial, because you have ruined your land {artsekha: territory and inheritance} and slaughtered your people; the seed of evildoers {mereim: habitual wrongdoers} will never be named for ever.
21 Prepare slaughter {matbeach: place of ritual killing} for his sons {levanav: male descendants} because of the iniquity of their fathers, so that they may not rise up and take possession of the land, and so that they may not cover the face of the world with cities.
22 “For I will rise up against them,” declares the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Supreme Commander}, “and I will cut off from Babylon the name {shem: memorial reputation}, and the remnant, and the descendant, and the posterity,” declares the LORD.
23 And I will make her a possession for the hedgehog {kippod: wild creature}, and for marshes of water; and I will sweep her away with the broom of destruction, declares the LORD of hosts {YHWH Tseva’ot, Divine Warrior}.
24 The LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Supreme Commander} has sworn: “Surely, as I have thought, so it happens; and as I have purposed {yaats-ti: determined by counsel}, so it will stand.”
25 I {YHWH: Sovereign Liberator} will break the Assyrian {Ashur: Imperial Oppressor} within my land and on my mountains trample him; then his yoke will depart from them, and his burden will be removed from their shoulders.
26 This is the counsel {etsah: divinely purposed plan} determined for all the earth, and this is the hand {yad: symbol of power} stretched out over all the nations.
27 The LORD of hosts {YHWH Tsevaot, Sovereign Commander} has purposed His counsel; who then can annul it? And when His outstretched hand {yad: symbol of power} is raised, who can turn it back?
28 In the year of King Ahaz’s death {mot: Event of Passing}, this burden {massa: Prophetic Message} came.
29 Do not rejoice, Philistia, all of you, because the rod of your smiter {makkekh: one who strikes} is broken; for from the root of the serpent {nachash: symbolic adversary} will come out a viper, and its offspring will be a flying fiery serpent.
30 And the firstborn of the poor will graze, and the needy will lie down in safety; but I {YHWH, Divine Judge} will kill your root {shoresh: lineage or origin} with famine, and it will slay your remnant.
31 Wail, O gate {sha'ar: city entrance}; cry out, O city; Philistia, all of you, melt away; for smoke comes from the north, and there is no straggler in his ranks {mo'edav: ordered ranks}.
32 And what answer will be given to the messengers of the nation? That the LORD {YHWH, Faithful Protector} has founded Zion, and in her the afflicted ones {‘aniyei: those in hardship} of His people will find refuge.